Florida Pageant's 'Mom' Stands By Her Contest

June 29, 1985|By Stephen Wigler of The Sentinel Staff

Frances Johnson is a great believer in the wholesomeness of another time.

For Johnson, the producer of the Miss Florida Pageant for the past 15 years, that time is the 1950s. She has dedicated an entire room in her house to that period, with her high school prom dress and her high school cheerleading uniform on dress forms side by side with an Edsel grill and a 1950s' Rock-ola jukebox filled with platters of 1950s hits.

When you ask the 47-year-old Johnson, a professor of communications at the University of Central Florida, how tall she is, she sings, ''Five feet, two, eyes of blue.''

She also believes in the wholesomeness of the Miss Florida Pageant, which is being held this week in Orlando and will send its winner to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. When a visitor made the mistake of calling such pageants ''beauty contests,'' Johnson responded with a vigorous shake of the head.

''They're not beauty pageants,'' she said. ''They're scholarship pageants that offer girls scholarships who deserve them because of their character and talent.''

On Wednesday night, as the four-day pageant began in Orlando's Carr Performing Arts Centre, she was too busy to talk much. She sat next to her assistant, Billie McLean, in the audience taking notes.

Johnson's pen began to move furiously over her note pad when a member of the cast moved too quickly along the ramp in front of the audience.

''Slow up kid, you've got a lot of music to go,'' she muttered.

She took more notes, then left her seat to go backstage to convey her impressions to her staff. She wanted to make sure that mistakes made on Wednesday would not be repeated on the following three days of the pageant. (The pageant finals begin at 8 tonight.)

Lisa Valdez, last year's Miss Florida, walked over, looking resplendent in a single-strap, metallic, aquamarine gown with a revealing decolletage. She seemed as if she had been sculpted in bronze.

How had she ever managed to get into that dress, a visitor wondered.

''She does have a gorgeous figure, doesn't she?'' Johnson responded.

Johnson's interest in pageants goes back almost 35 years, to when she watched the Miss America Pageant on television as a girl growing up in West Virginia.

''I'm not one of those people who wanted to grow up to be Miss America,'' she said. ''But I never missed watching it or missed an opportunity to read about it. When my husband and I went off on our honeymoon 25 years ago, I told him, 'There's only one thing I want to watch on television this week, and that's the Miss America Pageant.' ''

She has a number of other interests that might be considered unusual.

She and her husband, Boyd, a professor of physical education at Valencia Community College, have no children, but they do share their home and grounds with a veritable menagerie of animals: one Airedale, three Silky Terriers, six cats, more than 30 birds and at least that many goldfish. On one wall of the Johnsons' house are drawings of all 10 of the dogs they have owned during their marriage. On the opposite wall are photographs of all of their cats. Prominent in the living room is a life-size, life-colored sculpture of their prize-winning champion Silky Terrier, Klown.

Like Klown, all of the Johnson's dogs and cats are named with the letter K -- as is their house, located in the woods near UCF, which they call Kamelot. ''We named the place Kamelot, meaning a dream,'' Johnson explained. ''I guess we just like the shape of the letter K.''

Johnson became involved in the Miss Florida Pageant as a volunteer in 1969, the year after the pageant moved to Orlando from Sarasota.

''The next year the man who had produced it said he didn't want to do it anymore and asked me if I'd be interested. Boyd said 'If you want to do, then do it.' Here I am 15 years later.''

Johnson's job as a producer is volunteer work, but it requires her attention throughout the year. As soon as one pageant is over, she selects a theme for the next year's pageant. Then she invites several of the women who have been contestants in past pageants to be part of the entertainment. She holds orientations for the new contestants in April.

''I have to do more calling than anything else,'' Johnson said. ''I talk to people two to three hours a week. And I have to meet with people throughout the year.

''Of course, I have a lot of help from about 30 wonderful volunteers, and I work them to death.''

The show itself costs about $18,000 to produce. The money is raised from patrons of the pageant, from corporate sponsors and from the sale of advertisements in the pageant's program book.

Although the show was filled with music and dance, most of Wednesday night's audience seemed most interested when the young women made their appearances in swimsuits.

''They're hanging out,'' McLean commented to Johnson after the first few women made their entrances and exits onstage.

''Well, that's just the way suits are cut these days,'' Johnson replied.